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Heartland to work with award-winning intelligent infrastructure projects

12 November 2017

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​​England’s Economic Heartland is to explore how two award-winning intelligent infrastructure projects could be implemented in the region.

Elgin/ Tom Tom won the regional intelligent infrastructure challenge at the Highways UK Conference with their real-time congestion monitor, while Valerann won the overall competition with its intelligent road studs.

Both had entered the regional challenge set by England’s Economic Heartland and Transport for the North, inviting solutions that will improve real-time traffic management and information across the Heartland area.

Strategic Alliance director Martin Tugwell and EEH innovation lead James Golding-Graham were among the judges.

Valerann’s propriety technology turns road-studs (pictured top) into smart connected devices. They collect traffic flow, road risks, surface condition and maintenance data in real-time from every point in the road which is not only shared with local authorities and control centres, but also communicated to drivers via the road studs’ LED lights and in-vehicle navigation apps.

Elgin and Tom Tom’s website (pictured above) allows, for the first time, traffic managers, works promoters and utilities to monitor congestion caused by individual roadworks and traffic management interventions such as road closures. It has the potential to transform how disruptions are monitored, supporting intelligent real-time network management and supporting more effective intervention strategies and policy.

Martin said: “We set this challenge because we were genuinely looking for solutions which improve the journey experience in the Heartland area, so I’m excited about how we might work with Elgin/Tom Tom and Valerann alongside our own partners to explore how these impressive ideas could be implemented here.

“The intelligent road stud developed by Valerann offers us the potential to make our major roads ‘intelligent roads’, providing us with real time data that will enable us to provide a better driver experience”

Michael Vardi, Chief Business Officer at Valerann, said: “Today, only very few roads enjoy the many benefits of traffic management systems, due to their complexity and high costs. Valerann’s wireless, solar powered, cloud-supported technology makes these benefits accessible to any road, seamlessly and economically. We are excited to partner with England’s Economic Heartland and use our system to make their roads safer, journeys faster, and maintenance more efficient.”

James Harris, Managing Director of Elgin, added: “Elgin is delighted to receive this award and to support EEH in improving its network management by providing and communicating timely and reliable information on the level of service available on its Major Road Network, along with a unique capability to influence driver behaviour through live sat-nav updates.”

Chaired by Iain Stewart MP, the corridor's official champion, it builds on the East West Rail APPG with a wider remit that reflects the challenges and opportunities of the region, which has the potential to become the UK's answer to Silicon Valley.

East West Rail’s full potential to enhance north-south connectivity across the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge growth arc depends on harnessing additional capacity on the West Coast Mainline which HS2 will create